Acast is a Swedish tech company that helps businesses and individuals monetize their content. The deal's terms were not made public.
Acast is a prominent brand in the podcast technology space, serving as a host and distribution platform that allows outlets like The Guardian and The Economist to publish their podcasts to pretty much any app. Acast allows for advertisements to be inserted into the show.
RadioPublic, which it bought last year, is one of at least two previous acquisitions that the company has made.
Podchaser was founded out of Oklahoma in 2016 and closed a $4 million series A round of financing last year.
According to a recent report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the industry is set to grow to $4 billion in the U.S. When evaluating why Acast is buying Podchaser, these numbers are important.
Acast said that it plans a deep integration of Podchaser's data, giving its customers "authoritative, structured data." While Podchaser is a consumer focused platform, it is also a utility for advertisers and marketers, as it allows them to find the most suitable podcasts to sell their wares to. Acast is bringing Podchaser under its wing because of the importance of targeted advertising in the fast-growing podcasting industry.
Acast is quick to position itself as a champion of open podcasting, in contrast to some of the other giants of the podcasting world such asSpotify, a company that is still investing heavily in the podcasting medium. Acast has a platform-agnostic ethos and gives advertisers deep insights into activities across the podcasting spectrum.
Acast CEO Ross Adams said in a press release that they would work together to open up the vast opportunity for open podcasting to not just have parity with the data held by closed, paywalled platforms, but to leap forward and surpass them.
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